This publication is issued under the authority of a vote passed by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, November 6, 1901, as follows:voted: That the sum of $20,000, from the bequest of the late Robert Henry Eddy, be set aside as a special fund to be called the Eddy Town-Record Fund, for the sole purpose of publishing the Vital Records of the towns of Massachusetts, and that the Council be authorized and instructed to make such arrangements as may be necessary for such publication. And the treasurer is hereby instructed to honor such drafts as shall be authorized by the Council for this purpose.

The Town of Worthington, Hampshire County, was established June 30, 1768, from the new plantation called Number Three.
March 12, 1783, part of Worthington was included in the new town of Middlefield.
June 21, 1799, part of Chester was annexed to Worthington.

1. When places other than Worthington and Massachusetts are named in the original records, they are given in the printed copy.

2. In all items from town records the original spelling is followed, and no attempt is made to correct errors appearing in the records or to harmonize conflicting names or dates.

3. The various spellings of a name should be examined, as items about the same family or individual might be found under different spellings.

4. Marraiges and intentions of marriages are printed under the names of both parties. When both the marriage and intention of marriage are recorded, only the marriage record is printed; and where a marriage appears without the intention recorded, it is designated with an asterik.

5. Additional information which does not appear in the original text of an item, i.e. any explanation, query, inference, or difference shown in other entries of the record, is bracketed. Parentheses are used to show the difference in the spelling of a name in the same entry, to indicate the maiden name of a wife, to enclose an imperfect portion of the original text, and to separate clauses in the original text - such as in the birthplace of a parent in late records.

ABBREVIATIONS

a. - age
abt. - about
b. - born
bp. - baptized
bur. - buried
ch. - child
Chn. - children
Co. - county
C.R. or CR - church record, Church of Christ, Worthington
d. - daughter; died; day
Dea. - deacon
dup. - duplicate entry
GR1 - gravestone record, South Worthington Cemetery
GR2 - gravestone record, Ringville Cemetery
GR3 - gravestone record, cemetery near Johnson place
GR4 - gravestone record, cemetery near Curtis place
GR5 - gravestone record, North Cemetery
GR6 - gravestone record, Center Cemetery
h. - husband
hrs. - hours
inf. - infant
int. - publishment of intention of marriage
Jr. - junior
m. - married; month
min. - minutes
PR1- private record, from a Marble family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Abner Witt of Worthington
PR2 - private record, from a family Bible, now in the possession of Samuel Hills of Worthington.
PR3 - private record, from a Stone family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Aaron Stevens of Worthington.
PR4 - private record, from a Kelly family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Ransom Scott of Worthington.
PR5 - private record, from Perry family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. A. D. Perry of Worthington
PR6 - private record, from a Cole family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Samuel Cole of Worthington.
PR7 - private record, from a Burr family Bible, now in the possession of Clement F. Burr of Worthington.
PR8 - private record, from the Granger family Bible, now in the possession of William Granger of Worthington.
PR9 - private record, from family Bibles, now in the possession of Alfred Stevens of Worthington
PR10- private record, from the Sanderson family Bible, now in the possession of Frank Sanderson of Worthington
PR11 - private record, from a family Bible, now in the possession of Orville A. Dodge of Wortington
PR12 - private record, from Everett family Bibles, now in the possession of James Everett of Worthington
PR13 - private record, from a Skelton family Bible, now in the possession of Perly Skelton of Worthington
PR14 - private record, from a Brown family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Amanda Brown of Worthington
PR15 - private record, from a Cross family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. E. B. Cross of Worthington.
PR16 - private record, from a Parish family Bible, now in possession of the heirs of Milton Parish late of Worthington
PR17 - private record, from a Benton family Bible, now in the possession of Henry Benton of Worthington
PR18 - private record, from a Pierce family Bible, now in the possession of Ernest Thayer of Worthington
PR19 - private record, from a Brown family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. Martha Humphreys of Worthington
PR20 - private record, from the Stone family Bible, now in the possession of Miss M. F. Stone of Worthington
PR21 - private record, from the Bartlett family Bible, now in the possession of Horace F. Bartlett of Worthington
PR22 - private record, from the Pease family Bible, now in the possession of George W. Pease of Worhington.
PR23 - private record, from the Hewitt family Bible, now in the possession of Miss Caroline Hewitt of Worthington.
PR24 - private record, from the Burr family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. E. S. Burr of Worthington.
PR25 - private record, from the Drury family Bible, now in the possession of Mrs. A. P. Drury of Worthington.
rec. - recorded
s. - son
Sr. - senior
w. - wife; week
wid. - widow
widr. - widower
y. - year.